McHenry High School Teachers’ Salaries on Internet

McHenry County Board member Andrew Gasser has now published two articles about the McHenry High School teachers strike. The first one is here. The second one lists “School District 156’s Underpaid Teachers,” as the title of the article puts it. … Continue reading

McHenry High School Contract Negotiations

The following was published on McHenry County Board member Andrew Gasser’s blog and is reprinted with permission. School District Strike in City of McHenry Posted on October 3, 2015 by Andrew Because nobody else will… I shall. School District 156 … Continue reading

Teachers Union Wanted It Both Ways

Crain’s Chicago Business has a really good article by Dave McKinney about how Illinois got into the pension mess that now exits. I found this particularly insightful: Education Association President Cinda Klickna was not in union leadership in 2005. But she … Continue reading

Teacher Salary Spikes

The Chicago Tribune’s Education superb Reporter Diane Rado has examined the cost to local taxpayers of school boards that increased teachers’ salaries more than allowed by law just before they retired.  Her main article can be found here. Reported in … Continue reading

The Teachers’ Union Role in the Pension Shortfall

You will perhaps remember my writing that when a Governor presents his education budget it comes in three parts: higher education k-12 pensions In the 1990’s (at least) the IFT (Illinois Federation  of Teachers) and IEA (Illinois Education Association) lobbyists … Continue reading

Replay: School Consolidation Would Cost Taxpayers Plenty

With the Chicago Tribune pumping for school consolidation in its editorial on education, I thought it was time to re-run the article I wrote almost four years ago when Governor Pat Quinn advanced the idea. The numbers will have changed … Continue reading

Ron Parrish Re-Elected MCC Board President, 3.45% Annual Compensation Increase in Approved Contract

A press release from McHenry County College. (Printed mainly because of the revelation that the average compensation package is said to be increasing 3.45% per year.) MCC Board of Trustees Approves New Full-Time Faculty Contract [April 25, 2014.Crystal Lake, IL] … Continue reading

MCC Contract Salary Information

Below I have tried to extract the most relevant parts concerning compensation in the McHenry County College faculty union contract: The Board of Trustees meets at 6:30 Thursday night at the Crystal Lake campus. … Continue reading

MCC Contract Finally Posted

The heat must have gotten too hot the secrecy squad in Vicky Smith’s McHenry County College kitchen, because the faculty union contract has finally been posted in the board packet. You can find it starting on page 148. That’s a … Continue reading

D47 Teacher Contract Approved; Objection to Retirement Incentive

Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47’s Board approved the new teachers’ contract by a 7-0 vote, but not before Nancy Gonsiorek expressed displeasure with pre-retirement incentives. They’re “really hard to swallow,” she said. “When we give big raises to teachers … Continue reading

MCC Refuses to Release Faculty Union Contract

Tonight Crystal Lake Grade School District 47 Board is meeting at 7 at Canterbury School southwest of the intersection of Main Street and Virginia Street Road to consider the contract worked out with its teachers’ union. Another contract has also … Continue reading

Meeting Tonight to Ratify CL Grade School Teachers’ Contract

A summary of the Crystal Lake Grade School District 47 contract that will be considered by the school board tonight at 7 at Canterbury School popped into my inbox this morning. AGREEMENT BETWEEN SCHOOL DISTRICT 47 BOARD OF EDUCATION AND … Continue reading

District 155 Press Release on New Teachers’ Contract

Looking for whether my son’s school district will follow Chicago’s example and close school Monday, I found this press release.  I thought it might be of interest: DISTRICT 155, EDUCATION ASSOCIATION RATIFY CONTRACT The Community High School District 155 board … Continue reading

District 155 and Teachers’ Union Reach Tentative Agreement

Posted on Crystal Lake High School District 155’s web site is the following: The Community High School District 155 board of education and District 155 Education Association have reached a tentative three-year agreement for a new teachers’ contract. If approved … Continue reading

High School District 155 Offers Comparison of Board and Teacher Union Contract Proposals: 5% vs. Almost 12% Cost Increase

While looking at the Crystal Lake High School District 155 web site for weather information, information about the contract proposals made by the Board and the teachers association popped up. What you see, of course, is what the school board … Continue reading

District 155 Email to Parents Says Teachers Offers 5% over Three Years, But Asks Teachers to Pay More of Pension Cost

An email to parents of District 155 students: Dear Parents: Today, the District 155 board of education submitted its final offer to the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board (IELRB) for public display on its website. As I am sure you … Continue reading

Crystal Lake High School District Makes Final Offer to Teachers

A press release from the Crystal Lake District 155 High School Board: Board of Eucation Publishes Teacher Contract Proposal and Information for Community CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill., November 15, 2013 — Community High School District 155 filed its “final offer” to … Continue reading

The Role of Teacher Union Lobbyists in the Pension Debacle

The Southtown has a Phil Kadner column about the negative effects (more later than soon) of shifting the burden of paying teacher pensions from State government to local school districts. He missed one aspect that some may find significant.  I … Continue reading

What is the Effect of Having Taxpayers Pick Up Teachers’ Pension Payment, plus the Employers’ Side?

The Daily Herald has figured out what the late former Huntley School Board member Larry Snow discovered in May two years ago. Taxpayers pick up the bulk, if not all, of the teachers’ side of pension payments to the Illinois … Continue reading

District 300 Board and Teachers’ Union Ratify New Three-Year Contract

Below is a press release from District 300 about the ratification of the contract that came about after a one-day teachers strike. If you would like to read highlights I picked out of the over 100-page contract, including salary information … Continue reading